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| GRADUATION
:: CHARLES COOPER |
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| A
NIGGER ISA NIGGER ISA NIGGER :: JOHN STONE |
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| ASHLI
AND MICHAEL :: CHARLES COOPER |
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| KITCHEN
GODS AT WORK :: JOHN STONE |
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The Esther M. Klein Art Gallery is pleased to present the
work of two outstanding regional artists who both address
family, history, memory, and dreams in their work.
Charles Cooper's paintings reflect his love of Indian miniature
painting, Gothic painting, and American figurative works of
the 1950s, yet each one is also a personal dreamscape where
direct observation of figures and still life objects are combined
freely to create ambiguous spatiality and a surreal sense
of time and place. Cooper often uses his own family members
as models or paints old photographs into his works. His working
process frequently begins with collage where he experiments
with layering, integrating, and juxtaposing both design and
personal components. The resulting paintings are enigmatic
and metaphorical and each one is, in a way, a study of the
complex relationships between objects and between people.
John Stone's sculptures also reference relationships, most
notably his own relationship with his history, his family,
and his location in American society. Stone often integrates
found objects and family snapshots to make his varied sculptures
and multi-media assemblages that reference a specifically
African American history, but a history that is nonetheless
shared by all Americans. Stone's excellent and inventive craftsmanship
is evidence of his study of architecture and construction
techniques. His use of many repeated motifs - snapshots, single-pen
cabins, tobacco - highlight the influence of Stone's summer
trips to his family home in North Carolina.
John Stone attended Parsons School of Design in New York City
where he majored in Architecture and Environmental Design.
He also has a degree in Construction Management from Temple
University. His works have been shown internationally and
he is the recipient of numerous awards including a 2000 Independence
Foundation Fellowship and a 1999 New Landmarks award. Most
recently he has had one-person exhibitions at Seton Hall University
and at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, PA. He
was one of the 16 artists selected for Biennial 2000: At The
Crossroads at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
John Stone lives in Philadelphia.
Charles Cooper currently teaches painting at the University
of the Arts in Philadelphia. He received his MFA from Yale
University and his BFA from the University of the Arts. He
has been exhibiting regularly since 1986 and his works are
in the public collections of the Delaware Art Museum and the
Newark Museum. In 2001 he received the Purchase Award/Work
of Distinction from the Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown,
NJ, and in 2002 he received a Venture Fund Grant from the
University of the Arts. Charles Cooper lives in Willingboro,
NJ.
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